


The (Wolf)Dog Whisperer

by hbdragons



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Meet-Cute, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-02 07:44:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20272408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hbdragons/pseuds/hbdragons
Summary: AU!Gendrya & Meet-CuteNed Stark promised his daughter to get her a puppy, so he does. But he's on his phone to his best friend who has again fallen off the wagon so he isn't able to pay attention as much as he should. Which is how Arya ends up getting a wolfpuppy hybrid. She loves it to bits. Catelyn not so much so she only allows it if it gets trained.Enter Gendry who has a way with words but only when it comes to animals, he's clueless about people. Lucky he's hot.(Spoilers in end notes.)





	1. Chapter 1

"For the love of.... Yes, Robert, I am aware she broke your heart. Yes, her too. Ok. Fine. Yes. You're one big ... I can't say THAT, what is wrong with you?! Ok, fine, you're one big love machine and no one understands you like I do. Heard that? Ok, not get off the phone and go to sleep!" Ned Stark was fine, he was ok. He was picking up Arya's puppy so she could stop attacking him with her puppy eyes. She was going to Uni in 2 weeks and she wanted a friend. And the puppy he's promised a long time ago. Lucky she was staying local or Ned would have insisted on a whole team of dogs. She'd decided on a mutt, it needed to be a rescue, and ideally with blue eyes, her favourite. 

He pays for the puppy, glances down, sees it's adorable blue eyes and shaggy coat and smiles. Good, Ned's distraction didn't affect his judgement, he got what he needed. Now to get safely home. Ned set the half-asleep puppy in it's new crate, with it's blanket that it had ever since it arrived at the shelter and took it to the car. Placing the crate gently inside the car and securing it he thanked the shelter employee who helped load the truck with all the food and stuff the puppy needed before he sat down in the driver's seat and made a mental note to call Robert in the morning.

-//-

Arya was overjoyed. She took possession of the puppy completely. Fed it, took it for extremely long walks, played with it, fed it, taught it it's name and then made sure Nymeria came when called. The only real issue was that Nymeria got big, very fast. And a little bit wild - puppyish still but undeniably wild.

"Ned, are you sure you bought a dog?" Catelyn asked, with a curious lilt in her voice, making Arya look up from where she was playing with Nymeria but that made Ned cringe. He was thinking the same thing. And dreading Catelyn's choice. But he had a solution, he hoped.

"I was wondering what kind of mix she is too, actually, so I was thinking of getting a test done - to see what kind of genealogy we're dealing with." Ned said and Catelyn merely gave him a tight lipped nod. Oh boy, was he in trouble.

-//-

As it turned out, Nymeria was a wolf hybrid. Oh, she was dog enough to not be completely wild but she would only get more wild if she didn't get training. So, Ned asked Benjen to find him a trainer for the pup who was very good and local.

Twenty hours later, Benjen had found Gendry Water, dog whisperer. So Ned takes Ice to see him. The moment Ned's beloved Newfoundland got close enough to the young man he woofed gently, sat in front of him and allowed Gendry to introduce himself by presenting his hand to be smelled before wagging his tail and looking attentively at both his owner and his nice, new friend.  
'  
"Hello, sir, Mr. Stark said you have a wolf hybrid you need help with," Gendry began, looking a bit confused but relaxed and willing to cooperate even if the dog in front of him was not in any way a wolf.

"That is correct. Apologies, Mr. Waters, I wanted to talk to you before Arya brought Nymeria with her for her first lesson," Ned said, smiling and motioning to Ice "this is Ice, he's my dog. He is generally well behaved and he seems to tolerate Nymeria just fine. I wanted your opinion on how to deal with it if the two dogs will interact once Nymeria is no longer a puppy."

"Well, without first meeting Nymeria and her human I can only give you an answer based on previous cases I've seen - and those were fairly few as wolf hybrids are rare. Essentially, you're dog will act as the wolf's beta provided the wolf is not a danger to the family. If the latter becomes a real possibility, your dog will act accordingly," Gendry finished calmly.

Ned inclined his head and asked the question that had bothered him since he realised his mistake.

"My daughter is not very tall, but she is a runner and she fences, quite well in my opinion. My only concern is that if Nymeria could present a danger to Arya, I'd rather know as soon as possible. " Ned said and asked "how soon could we see if Nymeria is trainable?"

"That depends on your daughter and her bond to the wolf side of the pup. Is there any chance you got her genealogy tested?"

Ned handed over the paper and carefully observed Gendry. He reminded him very strongly of Robert - before Robert lost his mind to booze that is. But the careful, considerate and deliberate way that Gendry did and reacted told a different story than Robert's boisterous and sometimes asinine reactions. 

"Based on her Newfoundland ancestry and bit of husky she is going to be a handful, strong-willed and protective but categorically a leader. Not necessarily a bad combination, depends on how they bond and work together. How much patience they can have with each other and whether Nymeria will have pups of her own. My recommendation is that she should have one litter before she's fixed. Her maternal instinct might help with her ability to be gentle and attentive to small details."

Ned was both impressed with the detailed analysis and interested in learning more about this Gendry's background. If he was lucky, he could hire him to work with Benjen at the reserve. 

"Do you like wolves, Gendry?"

"Yes, sir but I prefer working with dogs, wolves generally can take care of themselves.'

'And dogs don't?"

"Dogs rely on humans too much to be able to deal with situations where they are at a disadvantage in a timely and useful manner. Dogs stay even if their owner is not a good owner. Wolves just leave."

-//-

Gendry meets Arya on a brisk morning where she shows up with an already large puppy and the most massive grins on both their faces. It's probably due to the training ground he's built for the both of them. The pup's very smart, very strong and with so much energy it could outrun a car. Hence the need for focused work that for now can be a bit sloppy.

"Hello! I'm Arya and this is Nymeria," Arya seems overjoyed but dims a bit when Gendry simply smiles and lets Nymeria sniff him thoroughly before he ever opens his mouth and says hi and welcome to the hardest school she'll ever go through, her and Nymeria both.

For her part, Arya is shocked speechless when she sees Gendry from afar, on what looks like a playground for puppies. He's tall, taller than Arya easily, and broad and dark haired and seems ridiculously strong, what with tying different things into positions while also holding them up. Close up, he looks serious and his eyes are Arya's favourite colour - summer blue - like what the sky looks like just before it turns into dark blue. 

He's very handsome and Arya likes how seriously he takes talking to Nymeria, like she's a toddler but a smart toddler and therefore capable of doing as she's told if she's motivated enough. He has made it quite clear to Nymeria, and by proxy, to Arya that if she behaves she can prove to everyone that with the right human, no wolf hybrid is a problem case.

While Arya is part of the 'team' that Gendry's training he is careful and controlled but fun. He can guide Arya when she's frustrated or starts feeling discouraged. 

However, as soon as Gendry tells Arya that the class is over and to let Nymeria roam for a bit, he becomes a lot less competent. It's like all his spark and intuition disappears when it comes to talking only to people.  
Arya is a bit disappointed but she's also intrigued. Maybe he's just shy outside of talking about things to do with dogs, or wolf hybrids as the case may be. She'll reserve judgement until she can see more of Gendry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gendry and Arya butt heads because of course they do. Nymeria is very amused. Ice tries to make her see reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kind words cati2011, Swetz, LoveRoqs and Holyfields, I'm very pleased you like my scribbles.   
Been working on a Gendry-centric fic which is why I didn't reply right away.   
Anyway, here's chapter 2 :)

"Don't be stupid! There's no way that's something she can do!" Arya shouts, annoyed. She hates being set up to fail. She hates that more than anything else, ever.

"Arya, she has pack tendencies, she will find you anywhere in Wintertown, trust me" Gendry says, very seriously and looking annoyingly sincere. Arya wishes like hell that she didn't believe him. But in all four months that they had been working together, Nymeria's behaviour had improved by leaps and bounds.   
Plus, Gendry had not once, as far as Arya could tell, ever lied to her. She would try, once, _if_ Gendry joined her.

-//-

Once they'd been around Wintertown, admiring the multicolored lights around and the open markets, bought treats for them and Nymeria, they split up. Nymeria would follow Gendry around Wintertown and then go up close to Winterfell proper then stop and Gendry would send her to Arya.

At the very last moment had a movement of clarity. There was no way he could let a wolf run through a busy area without creating lots of panic. Which was exactly what they were trying to prevent by training her.   
Wrapping the leash again around his fist, Gendry took a deep breath and looked at Nymeria. She looked up at him before she took off at his command to find Arya, dragging him after her, cursing all the way.

Following the least busy areas of town to make for easy dragging of a bulky passenger, Nymeria stopped right in front of Arya, like she was trained, but seemingly with a big grin on her muzzle, panting lightly.

Meanwhile, Gendry was red in the face and panting. Arya was forcing herself not to gawk too much. She was sure Gendry thought he look ridiculous, he did a bit, but mostly he look yummy. His blood up, panting and with bright eyes, glancing proudly at Nymeria and sure of the training.

-//-

Nymeria loped into the house, going to Ice to say a quick hello before making a beeline for her water bowl, knowing her food would be ready soon. Her pack leader would provide or Nymeria would go chase down a nice rabbit, either way she'd be full soon. 

Ice came to say hello to the little pack leader, say hello to Friend then turned to Nymeria, observing. She was very pleased with herself. Almost too pleased, it was a bit unseemly. He'd have to tell the pup it's the duty of the pack of the house to listen to their humans. No pup could change that order of things done.

Nymeria looked up at Ice and growled playfully. Ice shrugged and engaged, perhaps he'll try next time.

-//-

Ned was frowning and Catelyn smiling. She'd caught a glimpse of her wild daughter's face as she and her dog, or rather wolf trainer came up the steps. Arya had looked delighted and sparkly eyed at something the young man had said. And Catelyn was no fool, she'd done her research, ever since Arya came home raving about the training and Nymeria seemed practically docile if still mischievous. This Gendry Waters was a miracle, yes, because of his skill with dogs but also because he made the frown her daughter usually present the world disappear. His website had his picture too, and Catelyn had known Ned long enough to have met Robert. If Gendry didn't know of his father she wouldn't interfere but she'd like to meet the woman who made such a lovely young man behave like the very opposite of his father. Yes, she'd invite him to stay for lunch or return for dinner, with his mother, if Catelyn can managed to say that without being indelicate.  
Ned meanwhile was just thinking that perhaps he'd made a mistake. It's one thing for the boy to be Robert's, but why did he have to entertain his baby daughter so much so that she'd laugh so freely. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gendry is amused by Ice and Nymeria’s antics. She is definitely the leader of the pack at they both know it. Ice is just too dependable to let her vie for alpha positions when he can be the beta to one energic alpha. When Nymeria bests him she gently drops her weight on his and proceeds to nap, Ice humoring her and relaxing under her bulk.
> 
> He’s so caught up by it that Catelyn Stark, Ned’s wife and Arya’s mother takes him by surprise.

Gendry is amused by Ice and Nymeria’s antics. She is definitely the leader of the pack at they both know it. Ice is just too dependable to let her vie for alpha positions when he can be the beta to one energic alpha. When Nymeria bests him she gently drops her weight on his and proceeds to nap, Ice humoring her and relaxing under her bulk.

He’s so caught up by it that Catelyn Stark, Ned’s wife and Arya’s mother takes him by surprise.

“Hello, I believe you’re the Gendry Arya’s been raving about. Very pleased to meet you, call me Catlyn,” she says smiling and offering her hand to be shaken. Gendry extends his right hand and seems baffled when Catelyn keep hold of it and continues, “I do hope you’ll stay for lunch,” Catelyn smiles again before finally letting go and leaving to see to lunch, leaving a baffled Gendry, a tomato red Arya and a suspicious Ned behind.

-//-

Finally at home, Gendry sighs deeply before removing his shoulder bag and light jacket. 

“Mum, I’m home,” Gendry half-shouts.

“Yes, I heard,” Maria chuckles from right behind him, making Gendry jump and laugh. They’d played this game since he was quite small. She liked to tease him and liked to be surprised, by her only.

Enfolding his Mum in a hug, Gendry tells her about his day while she puts the finishing touches on dinner.

“While I appreciate this lady feeding you, I am less impressed with her ambush, that’s my job,” Maria offers as a comment, making Gendry chucked, seeing she’s only half teasing by her furrowed brow and half-smile.

-//-

A full three hours later, after Maria has grilled Gendry much more gently than Catelyn had and uncovered a few details that had escaped her son, she sends him off to bed. _She’ll need to meet this lady if she seems so interested in her son._

When Gendry plugs in his charger, his phone lights up with a message, sent nearly four hours ago, probably as soon as he left the Starks. He chuckes and leaves it to charge.

_I am sooo sorry for my mum, I swear she’s not usually this fishy._

**Author's Note:**

> I know Gendry seems a bit OOC, it's meant to be a defence mechanism. The more Arya learns about him, the more we know too.


End file.
